Foes won't make it E-Z to collect toll

Thursday

NEWPORT, R.I. — With less than two weeks to go before the advent of a 10-cent toll on the Sakonnet River Bridge, opponents are making plans to fight back the only way they legally can at this point.

A movement dubbed “Refuse to Use Your E-ZPass” apparently is gaining momentum as those opposed to the toll want to make it more difficult and more expensive for the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority to collect it. Portsmouth resident John Vitkevich, who devised the strategy, is scheduled to seek official support for the effort next week from the Portsmouth Business Association. Vitkevich was head of the association’s Sakonnet River Bridge Toll Discussion Group before the toll was approved by the Federal Highway Administration in April.

He wants anyone with an E-ZPass transponder to cover it up or remove it from the windshield before crossing the bridge. That would force the authority to look up the driver’s license plate, photographed by overhead scanners, and send a bill for the toll.

The turnpike and bridge authority approved a toll structure in April that would charge 75 cents per crossing for those with E-ZPass transponders bought in Rhode Island, with a maximum toll of $1.50 on any calendar day. All other drivers would pay $3.75 per crossing. Those without a transponder would have been mailed a bill with an added $1.50 surcharge.

Those tolls were scheduled to take effect in July, but the General Assembly placed a hold on them until a legislative study commission could consider ways of funding all the state’s bridges. To ensure tolling remains one possible option, the General Assembly authorized a 10-cent per trip toll on the bridge connecting Portsmouth and Tiverton, beginning Aug. 19. If there was no toll on the bridge when its construction contract ended — the formal term is “substantially complete” — federal law prohibits any toll from being enacted.

The legislative study commission must issue its report to the full assembly by Jan. 15. The 10-cent toll is scheduled to expire April 1.

After the legislative action, bridge authority Chairman David A. Darlington said it would be cost prohibitive to mail bills to drivers without E-ZPass transponders until they accumulate an as-yet-undetermined level of tolls.

Vitkevich emphasized that those taking part in the “Refuse to Use” strategy are not refusing to pay the toll, they just want to make it harder for the authority to collect it.

“Until you tell me how you’re going to collect from those who don’t have E-ZPass why should I make it easy for you to collect my dime?” Vitkevich said. “We want to pay the bill. If you send me a bill I will pay it promptly by check. But I want to create as much cost to the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority as possible. This is financial disobedience.”

Vitkevich said he and several friends are planning to ride bicycles across the bridge’s bike path wearing signs protesting the toll beginning Monday. Opponents intend to hold another protest on Sunday, Aug. 18 — the day before the toll takes effect — on the bike path, he said.

Darlington said Tuesday that the refuse-to-use protest will not accomplish its intended goal. The authority intends to put signs up on approaches to both sides of the bridge alerting drivers to the toll and giving them various options to pay it if they do not have an E-ZPass transponder, he said. In his opinion, the burden is on the motorist to pay the toll, not on the authority to collect it, he said.

“You incur the toll when you go through, not when somebody sends you a bill,” Darlington said Tuesday. “The onus is really on the driver to pay the toll.”

Darlington said the authority has made no decision regarding potential surcharges for those without E-ZPass transponders who must be mailed a bill. When the authority voted in April to set the toll rates on the Sakonnet River Bridge, those mailed a bill would have had to pay a $1.50 surcharge to cover the authority’s costs of tracking down the driver and mailing the bill. The recently-enacted law does not address the issue of surcharges, Darlington said. If and when the authority decides to add a surcharge to those without transponders, it would only apply to bills mailed out after that vote, he said.

“If and when any surcharges are set they would not be retroactive,” Darlington said. “We have no idea what’s going to happen with a 10-cent toll so we would like to see some data (before making a decision on possible surcharges).”

Sen. Louis P. DiPalma, D-Middletown, is a member of the legislative study commission and a vocal opponent of the toll. The study commission probably will hold its first meeting in September, he said, and he is trying to draw up parameters he will suggest the commission use in evaluating funding options.

“I think we have to look at it in a comprehensive and holistic fashion, and equity has to be one of the parameters,” DiPalma said. “At the end of the day the best answers are probably a combination of different alternatives.”

Baker@NewportRI.com

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